Support for a lamp



Oct. 13, 1970 A. M. THIEBERGER SUPPORT FOR A LAMP Filed Sept. 14, 1967FIG.3

INVENTOR. ARTHUR M TH/EBERGER FIG. 4

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,533,648 SUPPORT FOR A LAMP Arthur M.Thieberger, 6 Southgate, Springfield, NJ. 07081 Filed Sept. 14, 1967,Ser. No. 667,715 Int. Cl. F16] 27/00 US. Cl. 285-164 7 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE A swivel type lamp support which will stay in a fixedposition by reason of an internal geared swivel utilized to support thelamp. The geared swivel is spring biased into engagement with teeth onthe main body of the support and can be engaged and disengaged withlittle effort while allowing the lamp cord to be fed through the supportto the lamp per se.

period of time the lamp will droop to its lowermost pdsi? tion by reasonof gravity. Thus the swivel has lost its; ability to perform thefunction for which it was designed.

That is, it is no longer able to hold the lamp in a fixed presetposition for long periods of time.

Additionally, since the lamp support ,and its associated swivel isobviously a small portion-of 't he overall cost of manufacturing a lamp,the cost of the lamp support itself should be kept to a minimum. In thisregard, lamp support parts should be manufacturable by the mosteconomical manufacturing processes such as by die casting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The lamp support of the present invention is aswivel type support for pole lamps comprising a cylindrical main bodyformed of two mating halves with the swivel mounted at one end thereoffor supporting a lamp. The swivel has gear teeth thereon for engagementwith gear teeth on the inner surface of one of the halves of the lampsupport. The gear teeth on the swivel are pressed into engagement withthe gear teeth on the support half by a leaf spring pressing against theother side of the swivel. By utilizing the leaf spring, it is possibleto feed an electric .wire through the center of the leaf spring whileallowing ISO-degree rotation of the swivel. All of the parts of the lampsupport including the swivel can be die cast and, accordingly, the costof manufacturing the swivel is kept to a minimum. The spacing andsupport of the swivel can be accomplished with wide variations intolerance and thus avoid the necessity for accurate machining of parts.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in thedrawings forms which are presently preferred; it being understood,however, that this invention 3,533,648 Patented Oct. 13, 1970 is notlimited to the precise arrangement and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the lamp support of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of one-half of the support of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the half of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the swivel shown in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, there is shown an exploded view of a lamp support generallydesignated by the numeral 10 built in accordance with the principles ofthe present invention. Lamp support '10 consists of left and rightsupport halves 12 and 14 respectively. The left and right support halves12 and 14 are generally semitubular in shape and have partially closedfrusto-spherical ends 16 and 18, respectively. The other end of the leftand right halves 12 and 14 are open with one of the halves having alimit stop 20 therein. A bracket hub 22 is adapted to be placed withinthe end of the left and right halves 12 and 14 with the stop 20 beingpositioned within annular groove 24 on the hub 22. The hub 22 is adaptedto be connected to a pole or other support for the lamp and has athreaded opening 26 for mounting to the pole or other support (notshown). Electrical wire for feeding through the lamp support 10 is fedthrough the opening 26 and thus through the hub 22. The left half 12 hasa screw threaded member 28 mounted across the open edges of and betweenthe ends of the semitubular half 12 so as to leave an opening 30 throughwhich Wire passing through the hub 22 can be fed along the length of theleft half 12. The right half 14 has a hole therein aligned with thescrew threaded member 28 so that a bolt 32 can secure the two halvestogether by engaging the screw threaded member 28 through the opening34.

The left half frusto-spherical end 16 leaves a partially spherical innersurface 36 for reasons which will be discussed below. The inner surfaceof the frusto-spherical end 18 on the right half 14 is best shown inFIG. 2 Wherein, as indicated, the frusto-spherical end 18 has a flatface 38 with gear teeth 40 spaced radially on the fiat surface 38.Inwardly extending tubular flange 42 is formed in the center of thefrusto-spherical end 18 and is used as a bearing surface and axis for aswivel 44. Swivel 44 has an axial opening 45 into which the hub 42 fitsso that the swivel 44 will rotate about the hub 42.

Swivel 44 has a right side flat face 46 having gear teeth 48 formedthereon positioned for engagement with the gear teeth 40 on right half14. The left side face 50 of the swivel 44 has mounted thereon a leafspring 52 which is U-shaped and has its open ends secured to the leftside face 50. The height of the leaf spring 52 is slightly more than thedistance to the inner surface 36 of the frustospherical end member 16 sothat, when the halves 12 and 14 are brought together by action of thebolt 32 and screw threaded member 28, the leaf spring '52 will beslightly depressed so as to provide a biasing force holding the gears 48in engagement with the gear teeth 40.

The swivel 44 has a screw threaded tubular hub 54 at the end thereof incommunication with suitable opening 56 adjacent the left side 50 of theswivel 44. Threaded tubular hub 54 is adapted to be screw threaded ontoa lamp such as a bullet lamp found on pole lamp or the like. It will benoted that, when the halves 12 and 14 are 3 place together with themember 22 and the swivel 44 in place, a wire may be threaded through thelamp support end by feeding it through the opening 26 through opening30, underneath spring 52, and into opening 56 leading through tubularhub 54.

The mating edges of the tubular halves 12 and 14 act as limit stops toprevent overcompression of spring 52 and to thus limit the amount ofbiasing force on the swivel 44.

It will be understood that, in operation, it is possible to rotate theswivel 44 about its axis on hub 42 engaging and disengaging the teeth 48on the teeth 40 by reason of the compression of leaf spring 52. It isfurther understood that, once positioned in a particular axial positionas determined by the user, the gear teeth 48 and 40 will maintain theswivel 44 in a fixed axial position until it is desired to rotate theswivel 44 once again to vary the position of the lamp supported on thehub 54.

It will be understood that all of the parts including the hub 22, swivel44, and left and right halves 12 and 14 can be manufactured by diecasting. Further, the assembly of the lamp support is no morecomplicated than the frictional type swivel, which is presently beingutilized with the additional feature that, by utilizing the springbiased gearing rings swivel 44 will hold a lamp in a given annularposition without fatigue and without dropping, thus eliminating a majorproblem found in existing lamp supports.

I claim as my invention:

1. A support for a lamp comprising:

(a) a hollow main body having two bifurcations at one end thereof,

(b) one of said bifurcations having gear teeth on the surface thereoffacing the other bifurcation,

(c) a swivel pivotally mounted between said bifurcations,

(d) gear teeth on said swivel engaging the gear teeth on said onebifurcation,

(e) spring biasing means biasing said swivel teeth into engagement withsaid one bifurcation gear teeth,

(f) lamp mounting means operative with said swivel to support a lamp onsaid swivel, and

(g) said hollow main body, said spring biasing means,

and said swivel being operative to allow an electric wire to extend fromthe end of said main body opposite from said bifurcation through saidmain body, spring biasing means, and swivel to a lamp supported by saidswivel.

2. A support for a lamp comprising:

(a) a hollow main body having two bifurcations at one end thereof,

(b) one of said bifurcations having gear teeth on the surface thereoffacing the other bifurcation,

(c) a swivel pivotally mounted between said bifurcations,

(d) gear teeth on said swivel engaging the gear teeth on said onebifurcation,

(e) spring biasing means biasing said swivel teeth into engagement withsaid one bifurcation gear teeth,

(f) lamp mounting means operative with said swivel to support a lamp onsaid swivel, and

(g) said hollow main body, said spring biasing means,

and said swivel being operative to allow an electric wire to extend fromthe end of said main body opposite from said bifurcation through saidmain body, spring biasing means, and swivel to a lamp supported by saidswivel, said spring biasing means being a leaf spring having its openends fixedly secured to said swivel and its central portion biasedagainst the inner surface of said other bifurcation to provide a spaceunderneath said leaf spring and between said leaf spring and said swivelfor passing an electric wire therethrough.

3. The support for a lamp of claim 1 wherein said bifurcation gear teethare recessed from the surface of the one bifurcation facing the otherbifurcation so as to cover the operation of said gear teeth.

4. A support for a lamp comprising: (a) a hollow main body having twobifurcations at one end thereof, (b) one of said bifurcations havinggear teeth on the surface thereof facing the other bifurcation, (c) aswivel pivotally mounted between said bifurcations, (d) gear teeth onsaid swivel engaging the gear teeth on said one bifurcation, (e) springbiasing means biasing said swivel teeth into engagement with said onebifurcation gear teeth, (f) lamp mounting means operative with saidswivel to support a lamp on said swivel, and (g) said hollow main body,said spring biasing means, and said swivel being operative to allow anelectric wire to extend from the end of said main body opposite fromsaid bifurcation through said main body, spring biasing means, andswivel to a lamp supported by said swivel, limit stop means, said limitstop means being operative to limit the movement of said swivel awayfrom said one bifurcation, said limit stop means being operative toallow said swivel to move axially away from said one bifurcation adistance greater than the depth of said one bifurcation gear teeth so asto allow said swivel to be moved to a different radial position relativeto said one bifurcation, said spring biasing means being operative tohold said swivel into engagement with said one bifurcation under normalload conditions. 5. The support for a lamp of claim 1 wherein saidhollow main body is formed by mating halves, each of said mating halveshaving one of said bifurcations at the end thereof, and means forsecuring said mating halves together.

6. A support for a lamp comprising:

(a) a hollow main body having two bifurcations at one end thereof,

(b) one of said bifurcations having gear teeth on the surface thereoffacing the other bifurcation,

(c) a swivel pivotally mounted between said bifurcations,

(d) gear teeth on said swivel engaging the gear teeth on said onebifurcation, (e) spring biasing means biasing said swivel teeth intoengagement with said one bifurcation gear teeth, (f) lamp mounting meansoperative with said swivel to support a lamp on said swivel, and

(g) said hollow main body, said spring biasing means, and said swivelbeing operative to allow an electric wire to extend from the end of saidmain body opposite from said bifurcation through said main body, springbiasing means, and swivel to a lamp supported by said swivel, whereinsaid hollow main body is formed by mating halves, one of said main bodyhalves including said one bifurcation, said swivel and said one mainbody half bifurcation having cooperative axial support means forallowing said swivel to rotate relative to said one bifurcation.

7. A support for a lamp comprising:

(a) a hollow main body having two bifurcations at one end thereof,

(b) one of said bifurcations having gear teeth on the surface thereoffacing the other bifurcation,

(c) a swivel pivotally mounted between said bifurcations,

(d) gear teeth on said swivel engaging the gear teeth on said onebifurcation,

(e) spring biasing means biasing said swivel teeth into engagement withsaid one bifurcation gear teeth, (f) lamp mounting means operative withsaid swivel to support a lamp on said swivel, and

5 (g) said hollow main body, said spring biasing means, References Citedand said swivel being operative to allow an electric UNITED STATESPATENTS wire to extend from the end of said main body opposite from saidbifurcation through said main body, gjg Spring biasing means and swivela lamp PPmed 5 3 09li484 5/1963 LaT1 o{ i iB-52 XR by said swivel, axialswivel means mounted at the end of said main body opposite from saidbifurca- NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner tions, said axial swivel meansbeing operative to BRAUN, Assistant Examiner allow said main body torotate about its axis and 10 perpendicular to the axis of said firstmentioned U.S. Cl. X.R.

swivel. 240-52; 285-184, 264

